By: Real Brides-to-Be

Dave Ryan, the Twin Cities’ favorite shock jockey, fire-starter, and lovable loudmouth, is having a hard time finding the right words.

It’s just one day before the first-ever radio broadcast same-sex wedding, and as officiator, he’s nervous about speaking to the love and union of a real couple. “It has to be entertaining and funny, but touching and respectful, too,” he says.

If all goes according to plan, Ryan will lead with lighthearted aplomb. But why did a radio show host shoulder this responsibility in the first place?

“Radio stations have given away straight marriage weddings for years and years and years,” Ryan says, explaining his decision to become an ordained Universal Life minister earlier this summer. “With Minnesota just passing the [same-sex marriage] law, I didn't want to just marry any couple. I wanted to marry a gay couple—and ASAP.”

After making the announcement on the Dave Ryan Show last week, reactions flooded in. Offers for wedding cakes, limos, and honeymoons were quickly volunteered, but Ryan was focused on finding the right couple.

Enter Amie and Patty, longtime partners who’ve been thinking about tying the knot since lawmakers voted to make their marriage legal this past spring. They will be walked down the aisle of KDWB’s in-station concert hall by their fathers tomorrow morning, and you won’t miss a thing if you’re tuned into 101.3 FM around 8 a.m.

Once he gets through his very first ceremony, Ryan promises to marry more couples on air—gay or straight—simply because, as he says, "everybody’s in love.”